Rogue echidna ‘madness’ stops Bathurst 1000 race.

Mark Skaife declared “this is just madness” when the Bathurst 1000 was held hostage by an echidna in a terrifying scene.

The echidna on Mt Panorama caused chaos. Photo: Kayo.

A rogue echidna has held the Bathurst 1000 hostage in the run to the finish line.

A local critter on Mt Panorama caused “madness” when it was seen trying to waddle across to the outside of the track.

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The race was yellow flagged and a safety car was deployed, but only after the echidna had narrowly avoided contact with several flying cars.

Some drivers even had to divert their course to miss the echidna.

The animal also showed one brief burst of speed to avoid being run over by a passing car.

However, fans were able to breathe a sigh of relief when the echidna made it to the wall and was picked up by a safety marshall.

Local law enforcement have noticed @LeeHoldsworth's pace and deployed a spike strip #Bathurst1000#RepcoSC#TheJokesWriteThemselvespic.twitter.com/fZ7IPEREeP

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“In my experience we’ve seen kangaroos, we’ve seen horses, we’ve seen trees and water and bits of cars. We have never seen an echidna,” Supercars legend Mark Skaife said.

“This place is just madness”.

The monotreme triggered pit stop madness as cars came into the pits to take advantage of the safety car.

Mt Panorama delivered the usual madness. Photo: Kayo.

The echidna eventually made it to safety. Photo: Kayo.

When the race resumed on Lap 109, race leader Mostert had slotted into second spot behind Shane Van Gisbergen. Jamie Whincup was third.

There was another pit stop triggered just a handful of laps later, resulting in David Reynolds taking the race lead ahead of Mostert, Van Gisbergen and Brodie Kostecki.

Originally published as Rogue echidna ‘madness’ stops Bathurst 1000 race.